Thoughts about waist training and the hourglass figure today.

[mysterygal]

The only thing I use for my waist is a girdle..which I absolutely love. It feels great without feeling uncomfortable at all. I've seen a corset being put on once and it looked uncomfortable in the extreme. Seems like it would be a bit difficult breathing with something cinched so tight around your waist! [huh]
Dancing for me is great for keeping my mid-section slim also hula hooping (this really gives you quite the work out)

 

[Rebecca D]

"Waist training"? Not for me. I do weight training, as well as eat a good diet and get aerobic exercise. It produces a trim, athletic figure, which is fine with me.

I'll second that!

I can't stand anything restrictive on my body. If I could get away with not wearing a bra I would probably throw away every one I own!

As for working out, I understand that aerobic exercise and weight training doesn't produce the perfect, desired body for everyone that goes to the gym (including myself – I want a bigger butt and broader shoulders, but can’t seem to achieve this) but I deal with what I've got without wearing anything that would make me uncomfortable.

I do have a question about waist training, though; it was my understanding that wearing restrictive garments actually weakens the stomach muscles over time, eventually making the stomach bigger. Is this true?

 

[Caledonia]

Not entirely sure, but certainly unless you work the stomach muscles with exercise they will weaken, and corset or not, weak stomach muscles bulge out and down (lovely picture!). So I guess if you use the corset it stops the muscles having to work as hard to keep you upright, plus if you don't exercise out of the corset and stop wearing the corset, you can say hello to another few inches of waistline after a few weeks as the stomach relaxes out. I'm also wondering if the waist training corsetry wouldn't also produce lower stomach bulge in strange places by pushing weak muscles into a corner as it were.

 

[Paisley]

Note: much of this is fftopic:

I'll second that!

I can't stand anything restrictive on my body. If I could get away with not wearing a bra I would probably throw away every one I own!

As for working out, I understand that aerobic exercise and weight training doesn't produce the perfect, desired body for everyone that goes to the gym (including myself – I want a bigger butt and broader shoulders, but can’t seem to achieve this) but I deal with what I've got without wearing anything that would make me uncomfortable.

Rebecca, if you are interested, you might want to check out Body for Life by Bill Phillips (it's a book). That's the program that I follow. He uses a very specific combination of diet and exercises to get that toned physique.

In a nutshell, he advises a high-protein diet, complex carbohydrates and vegetables. It's kind of like what our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate. The weight training and aerobics are brief but intense (he says the stimulation to produce muscle happens either fast or not at all). The exercises are simple; you can do them with free weights and a stop watch.

Those broad shoulders you spoke of will make a person's waist look smaller in proportion. More pragmatically, parts of a person's shoulder are not only delicate but take a long time to heal if injured (if they ever heal). There are free-weight exercises in Body for Life that concentrate on strengthening the shoulders.

Ever notice that few dancers have a flat posterior? Good exercise!

As for bras, I've heard that most women are wearing the wrong size bra.

 

[imoldfashioned]

I have coveted a Dark Garden corset for several years--maybe for Christmas? I'd love to try mild waist training but there's no way I could ever get below 25"--those days are gone!

 

[Juniper]

Waist training doesn't look pretty to me. If you take off a few inches, you're left withan idealized figure, the sort of thing that a few lucky women were born with. Girdles & corsets also smooth out the lumpy bumps. More than that, it stops looking human:
http://www.staylace.com/pinups/sylphide/index.html

 

[Tourbillion]

My concern with tight lacing would be the effect on the lower ribs,with the two halves of the rib cage overlapping with continued tight lacing.
Saying that for a tight lacer that might be the objective to get a smaller waist, so they not that too concerned.

Paul,

That would be a very small percentage of women who wear corsets, most women could never get a corset tight enough for the ribs to meet. I can only think of four in the world today who even come close to that. There are probably only a few more than that that can lace that tight.

The health effects of moderate corseting are over-rated. Here is a quote regarding Cathy Jung:

Simply look at modern day lacers, where we can follow and monitor any ill effects, without reinterpretation, and there simply is no evidence of any issues. Cathy Jung's husband Dr. Jung MD is certainly cautious regarding his wife's well being, yet he feels confident that no harm is done. A precautionary CT scan that was done on her while corseted showed some repositioning of the internal organs, but much less so than during pregnancy.

So, having a child is harder on one's body than wearing a corset! This makes me more afraid to have a child than to wear a corset.

I don't think most of the tight lacers really look that good, and I wouldn't want to wear a 15" corset myself. However, I like the look of Victorian and Edwardian gowns, and they don't look right without a corset.

 

[Rosie]

http://www.staylace.com/pinups/sylphide/index.html

I'm afraid for her health. I don't want to judge people but, that can't be comfortable, what's going on with her insides? To where exactly are these organs being repositioned?

 

[LaMedicine]

I'm afraid for her health. I don't want to judge people but, that can't be comfortable, what's going on with her insides? To where exactly are these organs being repositioned?

Up, up and away, and way down, down low.lol

 

[Rosie]

Up, up and away, and way down, down low.lol

Wow so, are her middle organs being pushed to where her lungs normally are? Do the organs function normally when they are contorted in such a way? What if she needed an operation of some sort? Can her body be supported properly being so thin in the middle? What happens to her ribs and her spine? What happens if she became pregnant?

Sorry to go on and on but I'm so interested.

 

[Lady Day]

Wow so, are her middle organs being pushed to where her lungs normally are? Do the organs function normally when they are contorted in such a way? What if she needed an operation of some sort? Can her body be supported properly being so thin in the middle? What happens to her ribs and her spine? What happens if she became pregnant?

Sorry to go on and on but I'm so interested.

eMail her and ask.

LD

 

[Annalai]

Hi,

I belong to the few in the world who tightlace and has done so several years without any problems with my health. To get a figure I have now has taken me YEARS of slow and safe reduction.
I tightlace for my own. I like the look and how it feels and I have no healthproblem doing so. Insted all my earlier backproblems is totally gone.
This is a link to my latest photos on Albert's Avenue the edition 6 to 11 is about me.
http://www.staylace.com/albertcst/index11.html

The women mentioned earlier called Sylphide has almost completely stopped answering questions and posting photos becuase of all the nasty letters and comments she has got. I know I also get them sometimes.

This is an good article written by a doctor about tightlacing and how a corset effect the body.
http://www.staylace.com/medicaladvice/med_cthb.htm

Annalai

 

[Lauren]

I love corsets and have made a few from different time periods (going to take another class next month! Yippee!) I love the look and structure they give under period costume, but I don't think I could wear one every day. Despite common beliefs they are quite comforatable, and at costume college this year I wore a Victorian for 8 hours, took it off with two hours for break, then changed into a Georgian for about 6 hours. It really wasn't bad at all, and if I had the choice, I'd most likely choose one over a bra (underwire is eeeevil).

But with that said, I don't think I could do waist training. My build won't allow it, and even then, the most I'd want to take in would be two inches to make me not as boy-straight. My ribs actually end at my waist (if I poke my side, there's only about one finger between hip and ribcage) so if I were to do waist training I'd be curving in my ribcage dramatically. If you really wanted to do it I'd say to consult a doctor first.

 

[Rosie]

Okay, so I actually put the corset on just now. I tried it on before but quickly took it off. My goal eventually is to reduce 5 or 6 inches as I go back to my regular size. So, I guess I'll give updates every so often.

 

[fortworthgal]

I had heard of waist training, but I honestly had no idea people were going down to such unnatural waist measurements. It isn't normal and I see no way it could possibly be healthy. That page about the health issues regarding corset wearing totally freaked me out - I mean, look at this:

I would probably try a corset, and I don't see anything wrong with going down 2-3". I like the look of a small, defined waist, but when you're reducing that much, it just doesn't look natural or attractive, IMHO. If other people wish to do it, then that is certainly their choice, but I would hope they do it safely and under monitoring by a health professional.